Bug Description

Binary package hint: firefox

As the summary says: when a user opens a new, empty tab, it opens next to the rightmost of tabs currently open in the browser. This is inconsistent with the way links in new tabs are opened, which is to have them next to the currently active tab.

Agreed, this is VERY irritating behavior. When I open up an empty tab I need it to open next to the tab I'm in currently. It's very disorienting to open up a new empty tab and be flown 15 tabs beyond where I just was. I'm always having to drag my new empty tab back to where I was working before.

When there are multiple tabs opened on the browser and I try to open a new tab, a new tab is created at the right end of the existing tabs. I have read that the default behavior for this version is to open a tab immediate next to the current tab.

I tried modifying the browser.tabs.insertRelatedAfterCurrent flag in about:config file. But the behavior doesn't change even after modyifying the flag. So, this leaves the users with experiencing only one behavior of the browser.

Though some users prefer tabs to be opened at the end of all tabs, it would be better if this is configurable.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Open more than one tabs on the browser
2.Now, from the first tab, do google search for any word. Try to open any search result in a new tab.
3.A new tab will be opened at the end of the tabs list.
4.Now, open a new tab and type about:config in the address bar and press Enter.
5. In the filer bar type, 'browser.tabs.insertRelatedAfterCurrent'. A preference name 'browser.tabs.insertRelatedAfterCurrent' can be seen, change it's value by double clicking on it.
6. Restart the broswer and repeat steps 1,2. This should result in the observation stated in step 3
Actual Results:
New tab being opened at the end of all tabs. This eature can not be configured.

Expected Results:
New tab must be opened right next to the current tab. And this feature should be configurable.

As the summary says: when a user opens a new, empty tab, it opens next to the rightmost of tabs currently open in the browser. This is inconsistent with the way links in new tabs are opened, which is to have them next to the currently active tab.

Thank you for your bug report. I found the master upstream bug for this feature and linked it to this bug. Launchpad will import the upstream comments soon and you will be able to communicate with upstream if they ask any questions regarding this feature.
I'm going to mark it as Triaged and wait for upstream to work on this. Thanks for taking the time to make Ubuntu better! Please report any other issues you may find.

(In reply to comment #10)
> If I want a new blank tab next to the current I just press "Ctrl-T".
> If I want it in the far right end I click on the "Open a new tab" with my
> mouse.

I'd like both to be possible via keyboard shortcuts. I'd also love it if Ctrl+Click/Middle+Click were also controllable in a consistent way. E.g.:

- Ctrl+T - new tab to the right of current
- Ctrl+Shift+T - new tab all the way on the right
- Ctrl+Click - open in tab to the right of current (same for Middle+Click)
- Ctrl+Shift+Click - open in tab all the way to the right (same for Shift+Middle+Click)

(In reply to comment #11)
> (In reply to comment #10)
> > If I want a new blank tab next to the current I just press "Ctrl-T".
> > If I want it in the far right end I click on the "Open a new tab" with my
> > mouse.
>
> I'd like both to be possible via keyboard shortcuts. I'd also love it if
> Ctrl+Click/Middle+Click were also controllable in a consistent way. E.g.:
>
> - Ctrl+T - new tab to the right of current
> - Ctrl+Shift+T - new tab all the way on the right
> - Ctrl+Click - open in tab to the right of current (same for Middle+Click)
> - Ctrl+Shift+Click - open in tab all the way to the right (same for
> Shift+Middle+Click)
Which shortcut do you want to use for Undo Close tab? That is currently Ctrl+Shift+T.

>> RC: Agreed, this is VERY irritating behavior. ... This is very frustrating. Please fix.

Agreed. Why is this so difficult, when opening tabs has been solved in other browsers, and many times in other apps.

It should be this simple, if you start with these tabs:

AA BB CC XX YY ZZ

And open three new tabs from "CC", namely DD EE and FF, the result should be:

AA BB CC DD EE FF XX YY ZZ

If the browser treats all the tabs as one group, then DD EE FF wind up _after_ XX YY ZZ, which appears to be the major complaint.

If it works right, you probably don't need an option to put the tab at the end or next to the current one, nor keyboard shortcuts for both, since if the XX YY ZZ group isn't there, the tabs will be going at the end anyway.

I'm not going to campaign for "new tabs opening next to the current tab" to be the *default* behavior of Firefox (though it makes sense as the default for related tabs, as is the case now in 3.6+), but it should definitely be a user configurable preference, even if only settable in the about:config preferences panel.

I personally do think that opening all new tabs next to the current tab ultimately makes sense. After all, it's easier to find and click on whichever tab you want to open a new one next to, than it is to open a new tab at the end then drag that tab to the ideal location, especially if you have tens or even hundreds of tabs open (not as uncommon as you might think). However, I think the general populace tends to prefer the current behavior of tabs opening at the end of the list, and if that is the case, then more users would be frustrated by new tabs opening next to the current tab than users who are currently frustrated by new tabs opening at the end of the tab bar, even with many of us latter folk are coming out of the shadows now that our favorite extension, Tabs Open Relative, was somehow killed by Firefox 3.6.2 (if I recall correctly) with no further updates by the developer(s) of said extension. Of course, if any of them are like myself, they also refuse to use any of the heavier extensions like the terrible Tab Mix Plus, or Tab Kit or Tabberwocky.

So as stated, I'm not asking for this requested behavior to be the default behavior. All I'm asking for is a simple about:config preference (such as browser.tabs.insertNewAfterCurrent) to compliment the existing preference for opening links in a new tab next to the current tab (browser.tabs.insertRelatedAfterCurrent).

To satisfy the presumed masses, the pref could default to:

browser.tabs.insertNewAfterCurrent = false

At least that way we tab opening snobs can change it (to true) to suit our preferences.

Don't forget that in addition to Ctrl/Cmd+T and the New Tab button, this should also be the behavior for new tabs opened via Alt+Enter via the Location Bar, as well as bookmarks and search, if preferences have indicated that either of the latter be opened in a new tab rather than the currently opened tab. While technically each of these could be their own preference (e.g. browser.tabs.insertSearchAfterCurrent) I'm thinking that anyone who wants this behavior would set each individual preference to true anyway, so that would probably be overkill.

I think that's all I have to say about that. Or maybe this is: PLEASE implement this in Firefox 4!!

Although this seems to be partly resolved, it doesn't seem completely so. In the past I've used extensions to do this, and the new default behavior doesn't seem to behave as consistently as they did - and seems to disrupt those extensions from working properly as well.

The problem I observed with the implementation is that when you get past one level of relative tabs, the order goes all wonky. The child tab of a child tab doesn't seem to follow logic all the time, but I'll have to do some more strict tests to be sure I can provide conditions I can reproduce.

Another problem, however, is external links. An external link (passed by another application) is NOT relative to the current tab, but will be opened next to the current tab. I would prefer that external links be opened to the far right. This especially makes sense if the logic is that new blank tabs should be opened on the far right.

(In reply to comment #19)
> Another problem, however, is external links. An external link (passed by
> another application) is NOT relative to the current tab, but will be opened
> next to the current tab. I would prefer that external links be opened to the
> far right. This especially makes sense if the logic is that new blank tabs
> should be opened on the far right.

I am surprised there is no option for this. New tabs opening at the end of the tab bar is especially annoying when you've got 30 tabs open on a netbook. It's also plain annoying on any computer. Here's my vote :)

(In reply to comment #18)
> I'm not going to campaign for "new tabs opening next to the current tab" to be
> the *default* behavior of Firefox (though it makes sense as the default for
> related tabs, as is the case now in 3.6+), but it should definitely be a user
> configurable preference, even if only settable in the about:config preferences
> panel.
>
> I personally do think that opening all new tabs next to the current tab
> ultimately makes sense. After all, it's easier to find and click on whichever
> tab you want to open a new one next to, than it is to open a new tab at the end
> then drag that tab to the ideal location, especially if you have tens or even
> hundreds of tabs open (not as uncommon as you might think). However, I think
> the general populace tends to prefer the current behavior of tabs opening at
> the end of the list, and if that is the case, then more users would be
> frustrated by new tabs opening next to the current tab than users who are
> currently frustrated by new tabs opening at the end of the tab bar, even with
> many of us latter folk are coming out of the shadows now that our favorite
> extension, Tabs Open Relative, was somehow killed by Firefox 3.6.2 (if I recall
> correctly) with no further updates by the developer(s) of said extension. Of
> course, if any of them are like myself, they also refuse to use any of the
> heavier extensions like the terrible Tab Mix Plus, or Tab Kit or Tabberwocky.
>
> So as stated, I'm not asking for this requested behavior to be the default
> behavior. All I'm asking for is a simple about:config preference (such as
> browser.tabs.insertNewAfterCurrent) to compliment the existing preference for
> opening links in a new tab next to the current tab
> (browser.tabs.insertRelatedAfterCurrent).
>
> To satisfy the presumed masses, the pref could default to:
>
> browser.tabs.insertNewAfterCurrent = false
>
> At least that way we tab opening snobs can change it (to true) to suit our
> preferences.
>
> Don't forget that in addition to Ctrl/Cmd+T and the New Tab button, this should
> also be the behavior for new tabs opened via Alt+Enter via the Location Bar, as
> well as bookmarks and search, if preferences have indicated that either of the
> latter be opened in a new tab rather than the currently opened tab. While
> technically each of these could be their own preference (e.g.
> browser.tabs.insertSearchAfterCurrent) I'm thinking that anyone who wants this
> behavior would set each individual preference to true anyway, so that would
> probably be overkill.
>
> I think that's all I have to say about that. Or maybe this is: PLEASE implement
> this in Firefox 4!!

With the new tab animation. We could have clicking the new tab button morp-out a new tab at the end of the tab line, but Ctrl/Cmd+T can open the tab next to the current tab as can opening new tab from the menu/app button.

(In reply to comment #29)
> With the new tab animation. We could have clicking the new tab button morp-out
> a new tab at the end of the tab line, but Ctrl/Cmd+T can open the tab next to
> the current tab as can opening new tab from the menu/app button.

I can see this an add-on providing an option to open a new tab next to it on the current tab's context menu, but not a default for user. Since most of the user expect the new tab shows up near where they click the new tab button.

I had forgotten that the new tab button even existed since I use ctrl+n and cmd+n to open a new tab and completely remove the new tab button as it just clutters up space and takes up room for a more experienced user like myself. Perhaps two behaviors for either action - tab button press opens a new tab at the end, while ctrl+n or cmd+n generates one next to the tab the user is in?

It's wildly disorienting to have the new tab show up so far away from the tab you're using if you generate it using a keyboard shortcut. It's also particularly annoying when you need it to research something on the tab you're currently using as well - particularly if your desire is to compare the two pages.

(In reply to Dietrich Ayala (:dietrich) from comment #34)
> (In reply to Zhenshuo Fang (:fang) - Firefox UX Team from comment #32)
> > Since most of
> > the user expect the new tab shows up near where they click the new tab
> > button.
>
> Hi! Can you explain your rationale or show the evidence to support this
> claim?

We make the new tab button look like a tab, so when the user clicks it, we lead the user to expect that the button will either transform into a new tab or produce a new tab from itself.

Also, as a general rule, I think buttons should produce visual feedback as close to themselves as possible; conversely, place buttons as close to their target of action as possible.

We (at least Limi and I) have considered/wanted having every new tab open next to the current tab, but this would require having a "plus" button be attached/adjacent to the current tab for the mapping to make sense visually, and I don't think we solved it in terms of visual design yet.

George: This case has basically become about “finishing the job” that insertRelatedAfterCurrent started.

The others here and I seem generally to believe that *all* new tabs should be able to open to the right of the current tab. Whether multiple consecutive new tabs open up right-to-left or left-to-right is, IMO, a minor issue.

The major point is that the current behavior, whereby all CTRL-T new tabs open to the extreme right, is very frustrating for many of us.

Agreed: this shoot-to-the-far-right behavior is extremely annoying, especially when I want to refer back and forth from information in the new tab when focused on the original tab. PLEASE implement this change, and also roll it over for Seamonkey ASAP thereafter.

I'd like to add to this bug by suggesting in general that as many options as possible be given to the user. Out of the box could work the same as always but those who want to change will have the ability.

AFAIK, there are currently two ways to open a new tab with a typed URL using keyboard shortcuts:
"Ctrl-T" which is the equivalent of clicking the new tab icon, and "Alt-Enter" in the location bar.

The both are different but kind of duplicate ways to achieve the same purpose. And regarding to my fervent need to open a new tab next to the current, I propose to let "Alt-Enter" do this job. Moreover, it's natural to regard a new tab opened by Alt-Enter as a related tab to the current. Thus it's probably should be included in the realm of "browser.tabs.insertRelatedAfterCurrent".

More information about this topic that seem to be solved for me by a plug-in named "Tab mix plus" at this web site. It's pretty cool. Way beyond what I would have asked for. I had a little trouble understanding the behavior of one of the options and their support staff was MOST happy and ABLE to help me. I would give them a 10 out of 10.